Electronic communication increases the efficiency of financial transactions. Credit card machines and e-commerce websites facilitate rapid transmission of personal and financial data, eliminating the need for cash or even personal interaction. Customers can place orders and purchase goods and services by allowing merchants to remotely access their financial accounts. Customers can use many funding sources to complete transactions, including a variety of credit cards, debit cards, and electronic bank transfers. Funds can be approved for transfer, and the transactions can be completed in mere seconds.
The security of electronic transactions has become a primary concern for customers and merchants. As a customer conducts more electronic transactions, the customer's personal and financial information may be more likely to be stolen. In order to protect sensitive information, both merchants and financial institutions may encrypt financial data and require customers to enter unique authentication information in order to conduct transactions. For increased security, customers would preferably use different authentication information for separate accounts, but as personal and financial data becomes more distributed, the difficulty of recalling the authentication or personalization information increases.